Solomon Angell (1806-1881)
}} Biography Solomon Angell was born April 26, 1806, in Florence, Oneida County, New York, the son of James Williams and Phoebe Morton Angell. He and his family joined the LDS Church in the early 1800s, and following his participation in Zions Camp, he was ordained to the original Quorum of Seventy. Early Life It is not difficult, then, to understand that Solomon Angell was born into a family with traditional reverence for God. His parents were farmers. Unfortunately, they were not too compatible, a fact which resulted in frequent separations. (His father left home when the atmosphere became too heated.) Solomon's mother heard two missionaries preaching about a new church. She responded readily to the teachings of these elders, Aaron Lyman and Leonard Rich, and she was baptized by them in mid winter. Following her baptism, she took her family to Kirtland, Ohio. Her son Truman O. (famous LDS Temple Architect) and his wife, both of whom had accepted the gospel, accompanied the family. Later, her husband, James Williams (named for Roger Williams), joined the Church and went to Kirtland to be reunited with his family. In due time, the Angell family moved to Far West, Missouri, then crossed the Mississippi River to Illinois—first to Quincy, then in 1841 to Commerce, better known as Nauvoo, on to Winter Quarters, and then to their destination, the area that was to become Utah, arriving under the leadership of Brigham Young on September 20, 1848. Zions Camp Participant One of the most interesting episodes in the early history of LDS Church was the march of Zion's Camp (1834). The members of the Church in Missouri were being persecuted, and the Prophet Joseph made it a matter of prayer and received a revelation on February 24, 1834. The Lord instructed the Prophet to assemble at least one hundred young and middle-aged men and to go to the land of Zion, or Missouri. (See D&C 130:19–34.) Zion’s Camp, a group of approximately one hundred and fifty men, gathered at Kirtland, Ohio, in the spring of 1834 and marched to Jackson County, Missouri. By the time they reached Missouri, the camp had increased to approximately two hundred men. LDS Quorum of Seventy Created by the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith (1805-1844) in early 1835, the Quorum of Seventy was to act as traveling and presiding ministers for the newly created The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of these men performed notable works for the early church, living near then church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. The Quorum of Seventy itself did not meet as a governing body of the church and was not renewed until reorganized by the church in 1976. Ancestry It is interesting to note that his paternal ancestor, Thomas Angell, came to colonial America on the same boat with Roger Williams in 1631. They were fast friends, and together they settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Puritan colony. Roger Williams was a clergyman of the Church of England, and he disagreed violently with some of the Puritan beliefs, chiefly on the question of religious liberty. So insistent was he on the issue of the separation of church and state that the government banished him and Thomas Angell in 1635. Soon after the Angell family joined the Church, presumably while they still resided in Providence, Solomon married Eunice Clark Young, whose brother was the grandfather of President Harry S. Truman. References * An Enduring Legacy, Volume Two, p. 356 Category: LDS Quorum of Seventy Category:Veteran of Zions Camp